# how common



## thegraduate-cl (Jul 3, 2007)

how common are cigar beetles? do many people have problems with them, or have the companies taken measure to insure that it dosent happen much anymore.


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## mrgatorman (Mar 23, 2007)

Honestly...I have never had them. I yu ever suspect them, freeze your sticks for a couple of days. it kills them. Make sure to buy from reputable places or trade with peeps you trust. Otherwise freeze them. always a good prctice before you put any sticks in the general population.


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## Labman (May 27, 2007)

Okay, so as I'm saying this, I'm knocking on wood worse than a woody woodpecker...but, no I have not had any beetle problems as of yet. I'm hoping I never will, hence the knocking on wood.


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## burritosdaily (Jul 2, 2007)

mrgatorman said:


> Honestly...I have never had them. I yu ever suspect them, freeze your sticks for a couple of days. it kills them. Make sure to buy from reputable places or trade with peeps you trust. Otherwise freeze them. always a good prctice before you put any sticks in the general population.


I have never done this before... how long do you freeze them? then do you just put them straight into the humi (with the other stogies) from the freezer?


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## alanf (Jan 12, 2007)

I've never seen one. In hindsight, I've had a cigar or two that looked like it had a beetle hole but no beetles. (Since I didn't know about beetles then I did nothing - ignorance sometimes works, but I wouldn't recommend it - LOL)


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## tekeeladude-cl (Mar 13, 2007)

I had a cigar with bettle holes and tunnels just last week. As a precaution I enclosed all my sticks in double ziplock freezer bags and placed them in my freezer for a few days. I also let them rest in the refrigerator for a couple of days to prevent any temperature shock. This was my first experience with beetles, and thankfully no evidence of any other sticks being infested. The infected stick came from a local shop that has all their cigars custom made for them down in Miami. I have a feeling these cigars don't go through the now common practice of freeze treating to prevent beetles.


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## mrgatorman (Mar 23, 2007)

burritosdaily said:


> I have never done this before... how long do you freeze them? then do you just put them straight into the humi (with the other stogies) from the freezer?


You want them to be wrapped in a container to prevent as much moisture as possible. DO NOT PLACE THEM IN FREEZER BARE. Put them in a ziplock and take out as much air as possible. Put them in the freezer for at least two days. a good 48 hours. take them out and let them get to room temp. take them out of thewraper for this and once they have come back...put them in the humi.


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## Slow Triathlete (Jun 14, 2007)

I've never had these as a problem. Don't they only hatch out if your humidor reaches a certain temperature? I did have issues with the blue/green mold with some of mine that I had in my private locker at my local B&M. I moved the rest out quickly and threw the ones away that got it.


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## Daver3283 (Jul 8, 2007)

Usually when a cigar manufacturer is boxing thier sticks, they put it in a vaccuum that will crush any beetle eggs. It is possible that some places don't do this and if the humidity gets to high, they will hatch. The Freezer is the only way to get rid of them. Unfortunately the cigars will dehydrate in the freezer and probably lose som oils that they originally had. But it beats throwing them all out!


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## brianhewitt (Jul 10, 2007)

I actually had tobacco beetles once, but luckily it was in a tin of cigarillos of all things. I left it in a drawer (not a humidor drawer, thank god) and forgot about it. Months later I found it and I noticed a lot of "dust" in the tin. When I looked more closely at the cigars, I found perfectly round little tunnels through the sticks. If you gotta have beetles, that's the way to have 'em.


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## Mtmouse (Jun 11, 2007)

mrgatorman said:


> You want them to be wrapped in a container to prevent as much moisture as possible. DO NOT PLACE THEM IN FREEZER BARE. Put them in a ziplock and take out as much air as possible. Put them in the freezer for at least two days. a good 48 hours. take them out and let them get to room temp. take them out of thewraper for this and once they have come back...put them in the humi.


I would recommend putting them in the fridge from the freezer for a day, then let take out to get to room temp. Going from freezer to room temp too fast may cause problems.


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## havanitascigars-cl (Apr 29, 2007)

Never had any. You could also nuke the cigars for about 12 seconds. This will not dry them out too much, will not cause the moisture in them to expand and blow them out, and it kills the beetles.


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## bigpoppapuff-cl (May 7, 2007)

What can be done to prevent the Tobacco Beetle from infesting my stash, and what can I do if they have already stricken? 
Fortunately, these bugs do not like freezing cold temperatures. You can place the cigars in the freezer for 4 days. The freezing cold temperature will kill off all the bugs and its larvae. However, there is a strict procedure that must be adhered to in order to prevent the complete ruination of your collection. First, take all the cigars and place them in airtight plastic bags. If there is even the slightest gap in the seals the cigars will lose all humidity and be destroyed. I repeat this procedure twice more, so that the cigars are protected by three layers of plastic. Place the package in the freezer and leave it there for 4 days. Meanwhile, you can thoroughly wipe down the inside of the humidor (using distilled water, of course). Make sure there are no little critters hiding in the corner. Once the 4 days have passed, take the package out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. Be very careful when handling the package, as the cigars will be very brittle. After this time in the fridge, take them out and let them warm up to room temperature. This will take at least 4-6 hours. The larger the package, the longer it will take to get the core to rise to room temperature. Once this is done, you can now replace your sterilized smokes back into the humidor.


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## burritosdaily (Jul 2, 2007)

Great thread... huge help...


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## Tha Criddler (Jul 26, 2007)

Just so everyone knows....Rocky Patel has been having beetle problems.
I've seen them in a bunch of boxes of Edges and I talked to a wholeseller and they have been seeing that a lot in RP.


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## g8trbone (Apr 26, 2007)

I also count myself among the fortunate as I have yet to have any beetle problems, but I will keep this thread for future reference!


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## ozzyfan (Jul 30, 2007)

the only beatles I want is John, Paul, George, and Ringo......... sorry I couldn't resist that one. :biggrin:


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## Beerlord (Jun 29, 2007)

Beetles are prodominatly a Cuban cigar problem, as matter of habit i freeze all the Cuban's i get, reguardless of the source.


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